F518: Train all employees on what to do in an emergency, and carry out unannounced staff drills
F518 is one of the federal requirements every Medicare and Medicaid certified nursing home must meet. CMS describes it as: Train all employees on what to do in an emergency, and carry out unannounced staff drills.
It sits in CMS's administration category.
CMS Health Deficiencies file, data as of September 1, 2026. The files hold each home's last three standard inspections and three years of complaint visits.
How seriously inspectors rate it
Every citation gets a letter for how much harm inspectors found and how many residents it touched (how to read the letters). 0.0% of F518 citations came from a complaint visit rather than a routine inspection.
By letter: D 3.
What inspectors wrote
Three recent F518 citations from different states, quoted from the inspectors' statements of deficiencies (CMS form 2567). Names are removed by CMS.
Inspectors wrote, October 4, 2017, scope and severity DBased on staff interview and facility document review, the facility failed to ensure staff members were knowledgeable of emergency procedures. One of 8 employees interviewed were not familiar with protocols for power outage and/or fire emergencies.
Carlin Springs Health & Rehabilitation, Arlington, VA
Most recent F518 citations
| Inspection | Home | Town | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 4, 2017 | Carlin Springs Health & Rehabilitation | Arlington, VA | D |
| August 30, 2017 | August Healthcare at Leewood | Annandale, VA | D |
| March 23, 2017 | Potomac Falls Health & Rehab Center | Sterling, VA | D |
F518 citations by state
Counts depend on how many homes a state has and how often its inspectors visit, so a larger number is not by itself a worse record.
| State | Citations |
|---|---|
| Virginia | 3 |
By inspection year: 2017 3.
Common questions
- What is F518 in a nursing home inspection?
- F518 is the federal requirement to "train all employees on what to do in an emergency, and carry out unannounced staff drills". CMS files it under administration. A home cited under F518 did not meet that requirement at the inspection.
- How often is F518 cited?
- The CMS files as of September 1, 2026 list 3 F518 citations at 3 nursing homes, 0 of them in the 12 months to that date. 0.0% were rated as actual harm or immediate jeopardy.
- Is a F518 citation serious?
- It depends on the letter. Most F518 citations (100.0%) were rated as potential for more than minimal harm, D to F. None in the current files is at the immediate jeopardy level.
The interpretive guidance inspectors use for each F-tag is CMS's State Operations Manual, Appendix PP. NursingHomeClear reports the citations as CMS records them and is not affiliated with CMS. All F-tags · Methodology